Domination and Power in Cloud Atlas

Summary: An exploration of the theme of domination and power in David Mitchell's recent bestseller Cloud Atlas. Domination and power have so many forms, that in each story in his canon, Mitchell manages to explore the same idea from a new perspective. In each story in his canon, Mitchell manages to explore this theme from different perspectives, with various examples of humans abusing their powers and dominating others. Because the theme of power exists throughout these stories, it provides something of a backbone to the book as a whole.

Explore the theme of domination and power in CA.

A philosophy that Mitchell seems to aspire to is one that is outlined in Voltaire's seminal work Candide (1759): namely, that we become better people through our bad experiences. While each separate narrative seems to allude to a very specific style of writing- Timothy Cavendish is similar in style to the snobby, `stiff upper lip' fiction of Kinglsey Amis; Frobisher to the youthful, humourous sarcasm of Evelyn Waugh; Luisa Rey to tongue-in-cheek airport bestsellers; and Sonmi to the high-class science fiction of Philip K Dick or Ray Bradbury- the novel as a whole appears to have a lot in common with Candide. Candide was a novel written to prove that the world is far from a wonderful place, but that, through discovering this truth, we mature as human beings. The character journey of Candide's protagonist is...